Oak ejaculate

A springtime haiku…

    Tree flowers bloom bright.
    Joyous spring reproduction!
    Oh my runny nose 🙁

This is the time of year when San Francisco Bay Area residents breath in an explosion of sperm cells from oak, birch, maple and other trees. A wet winter and spring combined with our early heat wave encourage prodigious pollen production. Record atmospheric carbon dioxide is like Viagra for plants. With strong breezes tickling and teasing, the pistils can no longer contain the pressure, and they thrust their vegetative manhood into your nose, throat and eyes. Susceptible individuals (such as Yours Truly) get mucous on our swollen faces as overactive immune responses trigger inflammation.

My eyes are red, my sinuses are stuffed, and my nose overflows like a 2 liter of diet Coke and Menthos, so please pardon me as I sneeze and sniffle my way through the day. You may want to avoid riding too closely behind me.


San Francisco Bay Area Bike Commuters of the Year announced. I know the Santa Clara County winner, Nick Laskowski. I didn’t know he’s an 8th grade teacher, but that might explain why he’s so good with the megaphone at SJBP.


Official SJBP Megaphone

Huntsville, Alabama mayor’s ride this weekend will benefit tornado victims.

Pueblo Community Active Environment (PACE) has organized a Bicycle Scavenger Hunt for Friday, May 27 in Pueblo Community College, Pueblo, CO. I think this is something like an alleycat, though without the racing part of it.

San Francisco Bicycle Music Festival, Saturday, June 18.

A traffic counter for bicycles.

Ride the Oakland / Alameda Ferry for free on Bike to Work Day May 12 2011.


Johnny from Timbuk2

Neil Browne on Landis and UCI. “The reason for Landis’ happiness is that if the lawsuit actually comes to fruition he will have the power of discovery – meaning the UCI will be compelled to give him all their documents, depositions, as well as access to any witness they may have,” writes Neil. “Discovery is very broad and doesn’t have to be limited to just the lawsuit against Landis. The question is – does the UCI want Landis to have that kind of access?

A French judge says UCI lack of cooperation didn’t help the doping case against Vinokourov, Mayo and Moreni.

Science of Sport: Valjavec ruling: CAS further strengthens the biological passport.

Surprise, surprise! Roads have cost overruns too. Via Cap’n Transit.

Our favorite government waste whipping boy these days is Wisconsin governor Scott Walker. Penny foolish, pound stupid.

Mayors rebel against state mandated highway expansion and fight for transit.

Thoughts on Caltrain and anti-HSR NIMBYism on the SF Peninsula.

Do we really care about children? Since the leading cause of death for children is car accidents, maybe we should discourage the time kids spend in the car.

One Comment

  1. LOL! Love the Haiku. We do get some pine pollen here but nothing compared to what you are experiencing. So cool to see that they have commuters of the year awards in the Bay Area – we could use some awards like this in the SE as well!!

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